Don - Kotatsu! We we're watching My Neighbours the Yamadas the other day and pining for their kotatsu. Super want.

Ref: hot chocolate, I visited my brother last weekend and he cooked up a load of milk with cardamon pods in then made hot chocolate with pure cocoa using the milk. It was amazingly delicious but almost too strong for me. A bit time consuming for me though...
When I make hot chocolate I get a few bars of Bournville chocolate and melt them into milk on the hob, it is really nice, but again it takes so long it is just for special.

Phill

Wow, for real my first thought was 'Crikey, USPCC can afford Jackson?!'

Good work fella!

I've worked on projects in the past which have involved licensing the images of celebrities for various uses - it's quite possible that the $3000 KS target wouldn't have covered even one of the images he is planning on using.

The project didn't make the cut though, so I guess he doesn't have to worry about that.

Phill

Ref: the timeline, don't forget that the payment doesn't clear for more than 2 weeks after the close date of the 9th. Even if they press go with the printers as soon as the project hits its funding target rather than waiting until the cash clears, the turnaround time for the project looks extraordinarily ambitious. Ready for Christmas? What a thing to promise, I can imagine a few people having an empty space under the Christmas tree this year.

Adobe got hacked big time the other day, I've just been sent details about resetting and changing my password, and I suggest you do the same thing. Apparently the hackers got everything, including credit card and billing data that Adobe said were encrypted. I think they hope that sounds reassuring, but since they just got hacked, maybe not so much.

Here's the full details:
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/customer-alert.html

Phill

I'm incredibly caffeine tolerant and often drink coffee before i hit the hay =p

I worked with a Ukrainian guy who had to drink a double espresso to go to sleep 

You guys are such cynics. I can totally see someone taking 8 months to design this.

The eight months breaks down like this:
7 months 3 weeks 6 days 23 hours and 50 minutes sitting around with thumb up arse
10 minutes to actually design it

What's wrong with that?

Minimalist design elements (e.g. NOC decks or Rounders) Or sophisticated designs (most E and T11 decks)

I think you might be misusing those terms - minimalism can be extremely sophisticated, in design the term sophistication refers to how refined or developed the work is, not how complicated. In this case you maybe mean complex rather than sophisticated?
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" William Gaddis (totally stolen by Steve Jobs)

Phill

This whole thread is amazing.
Sprouts, are USPCC going to be handling the collation of the 2 die cut sheets into 64 card decks? Does this affect their costs?
Also, what's the reasoning behind the disparity in the art style between the new cards ( C & B ) and the Jokers?

Phill

Well this is awkward...

Just a final heads up on the competition - today is the LAST DAY to enter for the chance to win a fully bespoke custom deck designed and printed to your spec.

http://sovereignplayingcards.com/win-custom-designed-deck/

Good luck!

Phill

It's not quite the same but I sold my Creative Solutions deck myself and through magic dealers when I had stock after the Kickstarter finished - the benefit of having a dealer sell the deck, even though I am only getting wholesale cost is that they have *massive* reach. When I send an email out it goes to maybe 300 people. When my dealer does the same it hits 30,000+ people, all of whom shop for magic props online. It's very targeted. They move decks and when he sends an advert out it also drives traffic to my site for people who hit google to find out more.

My site also pushes a back end sale of my ebook that explains how to use the deck and contains a bunch of routines and effects. But again, not really comparable, I have a rep as an effect developer / writer / thinker, so it isn't really 'card collector' stuff, I guess the equivalent would be an art book or the like.

You have to have an 'end game' plan with Kickstarter IMO.

Phill